Graphics Essay – Daniel Shippey How has the advancement of technology helped artists make and improve their type of artwork? In the following essay I will be comparing and contrasting the artwork of Tom Theys and David Carson and how the advancement of technology has helped them make and improve their designs every year with technology. Also showing how the advancement of technology has made this easier using the work of Florian Imgrund to portray alternatives to computers. The advancement of technology has helped artists dramatically over the past few years. Before computers, retouching with ink, paint, double-exposure, piercing photos or negatives together in the darkroom, or scratching Polaroid’s achieved photo manipulation. Airbrushes were also used, whence the term ‘airbrushes’ " for manipulation. Darkroom manipulations are sometimes regarded as traditional art rather than job related skill. In the early days of photography, the use of technology was not as advanced and efficient as it is now. Results are similar to digital manipulation but they are harder to create. Tom Theys Tom Theys was born in Brussels, Belgium. He has been educated in marketing research and communications. He now is an artist, creating a lot of art pieces works. Tom Theys artist analysis Theys doesn’t use photos a lot in his work. He often uses bold colours and clouds as his background. Tom Theys uses the computer to bring the various media and materials together in his designs. His compositions are effective because although they seem randomly placed at times the images are balanced dividing the design into thirds or quarters by the placement of dominant images or colour areas. He uses dark backgrounds to give the front image a bigger look and gives more in depth to the front image. Also he uses large shapes sometimes in the form of letters and some just random shapes. The use of bold colours often link Tom’s work to a modern time. The designs he use feels as though they may be taken from the 21st century. Stylistically the work may have been influences by artists working at this time. Tom is an artist who by the nature of his work constantly uses images from the modern day in his work because he is often producing images to be used alongside different sized shapes, which gives a lot of feelings towards the viewers and towards himself as his art works reflect his life as a person. This is my Tom Theys piece. As you can see I have used
some of the techniques that he has used in his piece of work. He has used colours, textures and shapes and I have used similar techniques to create my piece in his style. This entire piece was created with the help of technology. I could of made this without the help of technology by drawing it but it would of taken a lot longer. I think that Tom Theys has to work with technology because his work is very advanced and I can’t imagine it being the same quality if he didn’t use today’s technology. The advancement of the technology has advanced a lot and it has definitely helped Tom Theys because it has made it easier to create advanced shapes and textures etc. This is very different from David Carson has he still uses technology but he doesn’t use many advanced mechanics whereas Tom Theys does, you can see this below, [1] I chose to look at David Carson’s work because I like the way he splits up his words and puts text near each other with a nice photo in the background. David Carson (born September 8, 1954) is an American graphic designer, art director and surfer. He is best known for his innovative magazine design, and use of experimental typography. He was the art director for the magazine Ray Gun, in which he employed much of the typographic and layout style for which he is known. In particular, his widely imitated aesthetic defined the so-called "grunge typography" era. In 1995, Carson left Ray Gun to found his own studio, David Carson Design, in New York City. He started to attract major clients from all over the United States. During the next three years (1995–1998), Carson was doing work for Pepsi Cola, Ray Ban (orbs project), Nike, Microsoft, Budweiser, Giorgio Armani, NBC, American Airlines and Levi Strauss Jeans, and later worked for a variety of new clients, including AT&T Corporation, British Airways, Kodak, Lycra, Packard Bell, Sony, Suzuki, Toyota, Warner Bros., CNN, Cuervo Gold, Johnson AIDS Foundation, MTV Global, Princo, Lotus Software, Fox TV, Nissan, quicksilver, Intel, Mercedes, MGM Studios and Nine Inch Nails. He, along with Tina Meyers, designed the "crowfiti" typeface used in the film The Crow: City of Angels. He named and designed the first issue of the adventure lifestyle magazine Blue, in 1997. David designed the first issue and the first three covers, after which his assistant Christa Skinner art directed and designed the magazine until its demise. Carson's cover design for the first issue was selected as one of the "top 40 magazine covers of all time" by the American Society of Magazine Editors. In 2000, Carson closed his New York City studio and followed his children to Charleston, South Carolina, where their mother had relocated them.
The advancement of technology could help David Carson with his work but with this particular piece hasn’t used any advanced skills. He still used technology to make this but as you can tell it is quite complex. David Carson uses both primary photos and secondary photos; in all of his work he has used bright colours or dark colours. He uses typography in a lot of his work. He has done some pieces of work that relate to real life experiences for example his tsunami piece. The main colours in his designs are mainly bright and bold so it will stand out The use of bold colours often David’s work to a modern time. The designs he use feels as though they may be taken from the 21+ centuries. Stylistically the work may have been influences by artists working at this time. David is an artist he uses images from the modern day in his work because he is often producing images to be used alongside typography, which gives a lot of feelings towards the viewers and towards him as his work reflects his life. This is my David Carson piece. I have picked out a primary photo that I took when I was in Florida and added text that relates to that picture. In his pieces he has added a lot more text than I have but I think it would take away from the beautiful sunset in the image.
Florian Imgrund – German photographer Florian Imgrund acquired his first film camera in the summer of 2010 and has made incredibly good use of it since. All of his double exposure work is done completely in camera without the use of Photoshop, and often merges human forms with the natural landscape. Among Florian’s eye-catching monochrome snaps are double exposures, all done without the aid of Photoshop and brimming with analogue goodness. In these doubles, Florian often puts together human elements against natural landscapes, thus creating an impression of man and his link to the world around him. [2] Ordinarily, cameras have a sensitivity to light that is a function of time. For example, a one second exposure is an exposure in which the camera image is equally responsive to light over the exposure time of one second. The criterion for determining that something is a double exposure is that the sensitivity goes up and then backs down. The simplest example of a multiple exposure is a
double exposure without flash, i.e. two partial exposures are made and then combined into one complete exposure. Some single exposures, such as "flash and blur" use a combination of electronic flash and ambient exposure. This effect can be approximated by a Dirac delta measure (flash) and a constant finite rectangular window, in combination. For example, a sensitivity window comprising a Dirac comb combined with a rectangular pulse is considered a multiple exposure, even though the sensitivity never goes to zero during the exposure. [3] In photography and cinematography, a multiple exposure is the superimposition of two or more exposures to create a single image, and double exposure has a corresponding meaning in respect of two images. The exposure values may or may not be identical to each other. By playing with human nature, Florian Imgrund’s photographs reignite the controversial digital vs analog debate. Captured on film, self-developed, and free from any computer manipulation, his beautiful images evoke a feeling comparable to that you get listening to an old vinyl crack or watching an old movie before it gets digitally repackaged and rereleased as a 3D blockbuster. “Delicate and ethereal yet striking and intense, his creations merge images of humans with their natural landscapes serving to reassert our close relationship with the environment we inhabit.” [4] Fascinated by the ‘unique charm’ of early photography, Florian got his first analog camera in summer 2010 and has been capturing beautiful images ever since. The artist, who works as an assistant professor in Germany, is passionate about his hobby, pursuing it as he writes his doctoral thesis. [4]
The advancement of technology has really helped my when it comes to some of the pieces that I have created. Without technology I wouldn’t have been able to change this image from colour to black and white and I don’t think I could of made a fire ball looks of realistic without using Photoshop.
Bibliography – 1.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Carson_%28graphic_designer%29
2.
http://www.lomography.com/magazine/166110-florian-imgrundsdouble-exposures-in-monochrome
3.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Multiple_exposure
4.
http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2012/03/16/florian-igmund-doubleexposure_n_1353938.html
5.